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🔥"INTERSPIRITUALITY"🔥
An Interfaith Potluck Dinner Dialogue
Sunday, May 17th, 2026
Swedenborgian House
Washington. D.C.
Our Spiritual journeys often may lead us across Faith divides in search of inner wholeness or of a deeper communal experience of the “Sacred.”We were priveledged to share in an evening potluck feast and evening dinner
dialogue on the theme of “Interspirituality" at the Church of the Holy City near Dupont Circle. Seventeen of us, people from many cultures, religions and ethnicities, gathered to commune with one another - and there is a great power in a communal shared meal!
SOME THOUGHTS FROM SUNDAY: Some of us feel genuinely 'called' to share in the meditative, spiritual practices or
teachings of more than one religious tradition. Sometimes crossing a traditional boundary may lead to some hightened anxiety - but also possibly to a revelatory discovery about self, others, or of the Divine itself. Some find their connection to the Sacred through Nature; some in Service to others, or through the Communion of preparing and sharing food. Time seems to slow, or even stop, as we contemplate nature or even chop our vegetables for dinner. [The writer James Joyce called this experience "aesthetic arrest" - where "beauty arrests time" - a true "Zen" moment!] It was also noted how in "Recovery" Communities such as N.A.and A.A. the use of the phrase "Higher Power" can help to bring people together in service to one another - beyond religious lines or other divisions - creating a kind of loving "communion through service." There is such a pressing need for this today where life has often become so polarized, identity-based, or negativistic.
Many, many thanks to Rev. Rich Tafel of the Church of the Holy City for warmly hosting us. Appreciations to Kelly M. and the "Potluck Project"for coordinating, and to Kelly C. for leading us into the Silence and co-facilitating with Zamin.
AN INTRIGUING ARTICLE:
💧
DIGGING DEEP TO HOLY WATER
Thoughts on Interspirituality
by Rev. Maththew Wright
The Rev. Matthew Wright is an Episcopal priest, writer, and retreat leader working to renew the Christian Wisdom tradition in a wider interspiritual context. He is also a longtime student of the Mevlevi Sufi tradition...
"Recently I’ve been doing independent study at my seminary on individuals
(or communities) who find themselves called to stand in more than one
religious tradition. The depth of this kind of multiple engagement runs
a spectrum, from the Christian who flirts with Hindu yoga, to the Jew
who has taken refuge in the Buddha and practices deeply in both
traditions (or any of the countless other scenarios you can imagine!).
I’ve been doing this work, in part, because it’s a reality into which
I’ve found myself called. As a seminarian on track for priesthood in the Episcopal Church, I have also practiced within Zen Buddhism, Islamic Sufism, and Hindu Vedanta. Sufism and Vedanta continue to be active parts of my personal spiritual life, in addition to my ongoing commitment to Christianity. I have never “left” one faith for another..."
Continues:
https://shalem.org/2009/01/14/digging-deep-to-holy-water/